Deborah Bradseth

Owner / Designer / Formatter

I've always been a book lover and found a passion for design at a young age. Although I didn't start with this career in mind for the simple truth that I didn't know it was possible, I'm grateful everyday for the fact that I ended up on this path and have the chance to work with such amazing authors and have the most amazing career (in my opinion)!

I graduated from Bemidji State University with a bachelor's degree in Design Technology with a specialization in digital and electronic design. After I designed my first cover for an author, I instantly fell in love with the process and I knew it was what I was meant to do. From that experience, Tugboat Design was born.

I am married to my amazing husband and we share our lives with two cats, two awesome dogs and our young son. We live in beautiful rural, west-central Minnesota.

Accomplishments

To date, I have designed hundreds of book covers. I've had a few notable clients who have done quite well for themselves, and possibly even more that I'm not aware of. I have also had some wonderful opportunities come my way.

K. Bromberg, hit the Top 100 Paid on Amazon and stayed there for 20+ days with Driven and Fueled; both covers I designed. Her third book in the series, Crashed, became an Amazon #1 Bestseller on the first day of pre-sales. K.Bromberg is now a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author and has a multi-book deal with Penguin Books while still being able to self-publish.​

Original Design

New Design

Deanna Lynn Sletten has hit the top 100 paid on Amazon for both of her books Widow, Virgin, Whore and Maggie's Turn. She also reached #7 on Barnes & Noble's top 100 list for Maggie's Turn. In 2014, Deanna was contacted and signed a contract with one of Amazon's imprints, Lake Union, who re-published Maggie's Turn in July 2015. Lake Union used my original concept for the re-design of the book cover. Maggie's Turn hit and stayed in the top 100 after it's initial release, and became #1 in Contemporary Literature.

Original Cover

New Design

O.W. Shumaker hit the Top 100 Paid on Amazon for his novel, Anna's Bear. The novel has also won the following awards:The Lyra Award -- for Best Historical Fiction, The Indie Reader Discovery Award -- for Best Historical Fiction, The Pacific Book Review Award -- for Best Historical Fiction.

Waiting for Aegina by Effie Kammenou won Silver (second place) in the 2017 Authorsdb Book Cover Contest in the Women's Fiction category.

I was contacted by Adam Boretz, editor of Publisher's Weekly's Booklife section, who invited me to become a columnist for their new "Cover Redesign" section in 2017. From February - October I redesigned a new cover and submitted my feedback about the redesign. The article was featured in the print magazine and online at Publisher's Weekly and Booklife. I am very honored to have been involved in this project.

Feb. 2017 issue

April 2017 issue

March 2017 issue

May 2017 issue

June 2017

August 2017

October 2017

July 2017

September 2017

Accomplishments outside of Tugboat Design

From July 2013 - December 2015 I worked at the local newspaper, The Bemidji Pioneer, as a graphic designer. They publish a quarterly, community magazine and I was the design lead. I designed the logo and the template for the front cover of the magazine. I also had the privilege of designing the front cover for each magazine from the beginning through the Winter 2016 issue. I designed a majority of the interior as well. You can view the past issues I worked on at http://issuu.com/inmagbemidji

Why "Tugboat Design"?

Original logo design

Just before launching my online business, I had the hard challenge of deciding on a name. I knew I didn't want to use my real name for a few reasons, but I wanted to come up with a name that still had meaning. I spent days thinking about it, and at one point I tossed out "tugboat". I instantly pictured this little cartoon tugboat bobbing in the water. I quickly drew up and illustrated what I was picturing for my logo. It gave me the impression of fun, friendly, yet professional, which was exactly what I was going for. Plus, it can be symbolic. Tugboats help bigger boats get to where they want to go, and I help authors get to where they want to go: ready to publish.

Everyday, Tugboat Design grows with new and returning clients. Unless something drastic and unexpected happens to Amazon, or the internet, I'm here for good. So you don't have to worry about losing your designer.